Americans United - Giles County Schoolshttps://www.au.org/tags/giles-county-schools
enOne Step Forward, One Step Back: Va. School Board Removes Commandments, But Adds Problematic Displayhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/one-step-forward-one-step-back-va-school-board-removes-commandments-but
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Most Americans are Christians and the Christian faith certainly has influenced morality for many, but the Commandments are not the basis of constitutional law.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Sometimes government entities manage to do something right and something wrong simultaneously.</p><p>The Giles County School Board <a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/309612">voted unanimously</a> last week to remove the Ten Commandments from a hallway display at Narrows High School in Narrows, Va., according to <em>The Roanoke Times</em>.</p><p>In its place, the board elected to put up a page titled “Roots of Democracy” from a history textbook. The poster-like page mentions the English Parliament, ancient Greece and the Enlightenment as contributing to democracy in America. But it also celebrates the “Judeo-Christian roots” of American government.</p><p>The document says: “The values found in the Bible, including the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus, inspired American ideas about government and morality.”</p><p>If you’ve been following the situation in Giles County, then you know why this change was made. Last year the Virginia ACLU sued the school board on behalf of a parent and a student who wanted the Commandments display, which had been in place since 1999, removed.</p><p>In May, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski heard oral arguments in the case and ordered mediation. The <em>Times</em> reported that Urbanski suggested removing the first four commandments, which are explicitly religious in nature, and leaving the six more secular commandments.</p><p>This recent move by the board was apparently another attempt at compromise. Stephen Crampton, an attorney with Religious Right legal outfit Liberty Counsel, which represents the board, said he wasn’t sure exactly how the change would affect the lawsuit.</p><p>“That is the question, isn't it?” he said, according to the <em>Times</em>. “Ultimately, that remains to be seen. Obviously it will impact it significantly, because the lawsuit was a challenge, in effect, to that one document in the display.”</p><p>The ACLU, on the other hand, <a href="http://wtvr.com/2012/05/31/new-twist-in-virginias-10-commandments-school-controversy/">isn’t ready to speculate</a>.</p><p>“Well, I was surprised there was a change in the display,” Rebecca Glenberg, an ACLU attorney, said, according to WTVR in Richmond.</p><p>“I really can’t say whether it’s a good or a bad thing until I’ve studied it more carefully and talked to the client,” she said.</p><p>What’s disturbing here is that the school board members don’t seem to understand what the problem is: namely, government-sponsored religious indoctrination.</p><p>The new display is constitutionally dubious and also bad history and bad education. “American ideas about government” are not drawn from the Bible or the teachings of Jesus. The U.S. Constitution is a secular document that mandates a secular government. </p><p>Most Americans are Christians and the Christian faith certainly has influenced morality for many, but the Commandments are not the basis of constitutional law. After more than 225 years, it’s still legal to disrespect your parents (although you shouldn’t), covet your neighbor’s house and work on the Sabbath. And you can worship one god, twenty gods or decline to worship at all.</p><p>The Giles County School Board needs to learn to stop meddling in the religious lives of students. If parents want to teach their children about the Bible, the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus, that’s their choice. The school, however, doesn’t have that right.</p><p>Maybe the board members need to go take a basic civics class.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/government-sponsored-religious-displays">Government-Sponsored Religious Displays</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/giles-county-schools">Giles County Schools</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/narrows-high-school">Narrows High School</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/judge-michael-urbanski">Judge Michael Urbanski</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Location:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/our-work/grassroots/virginia">Virginia</a></span></div></div>Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:39:59 +0000Simon Brown7209 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/one-step-forward-one-step-back-va-school-board-removes-commandments-but#commentsConstitutional Commandment: Virginia School Board Obeys First Amendment – At Least For Nowhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/constitutional-commandment-virginia-school-board-obeys-first-amendment-%E2%80%93-at
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Giles County has some 40 houses of worship. If parents want their children to learn about the Ten Commandments and other religious concepts, that’s the proper place to look.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Good news from Giles County, Va.! It looks as though local school board members may have decided not to waste precious financial resources on a church-state lawsuit they were almost certain to lose.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Ten Commandments posters in all local schools came down.</p>
<p>That may mean the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Virginia ACLU will not be taking this constitutional violation into court.</p>
<p>According to <em>The Roanoke Times</em>, school board members <a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/278046">had been warned</a> that they could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending the religious displays, and there was a very strong chance that they would lose. The Supreme Court has barred school promotion of religion, including a<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0449_0039_ZO.html"> specific decision</a> holding that Commandments displays are unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Board members weren’t happy about it, but they made the right decision.</p>
<p>"Our entire board would like to see them stay up, but we can't take that chance of them filing a suit and us losing," Board Chairman J. B. Buckland said.</p>
<p>The board’s action came despite pressure from local clergy and congregants who demanded that their elected leaders keep the Commandments up. And those same forces are still on prowl.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that means we don’t know if this is the end of the story.</p>
<p>Buckland hinted to <em>The Washington Post</em> that the board might try putting up <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022306539.html">a new display</a> that is less obviously unconstitutional.</p>
<p>"We can't justify spending $300,000 at a time like this, when we need that money for instruction," he said. "But based on the Liberty Counsel's advice, we will consider putting something back up."</p>
<p>Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver has been conferring with board members about the issue, and he’s always looking for ways to circumvent the clear constitutional mandate of church-state separation.</p>
<p>Staver, dean of the Jerry Falwell-founded Liberty University School of Law, is the wrong person to give guidance to Giles County officials. Just this week, he lost another round in a long-running Commandments dispute from Kentucky.</p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0222/Supreme-Court-refuses-appeal-about-Ten-Commandments-displays">declined to hear</a> a case from the Bluegrass State dealing with Commandments displays in the Pulaski and McCreary county courthouses. The justices’ refusal leaves in place lower court decisions barring governmental promotion of religion.</p>
<p>Staver’s plea asserted, “This Petition provides this Court with the opportunity to finally tear down the walls of the labyrinth of [church-state] jurisprudence.” In fact, he really wants to “finally tear down” the wall of separation between religion and government.</p>
<p>The high court rejected his offer. The Giles County School Board should reject his advice.</p>
<p>This is a really simple issue. As my colleague Rob Boston <a href="http://blog.au.org/2011/02/18/commandments-clash-va-county-has-one-last-chance-to-avoid-a-lawsuit-%E2%80%93-and-should-take-it/?utm_source=au-homepage&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Recently-on-homepage">noted last week</a>, public schools exist to teach children about secular subjects. Religious indoctrination is not part of that responsibility.</p>
<p>Online sites say Giles County has <a href="http://gilescounty.org/churches.html">some 40 </a>houses of worship. If parents want their children to learn about the Ten Commandments and other religious concepts, that’s the proper place to look.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religion-public-schools-and-universities">Religion in Public Schools and Universities</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/giles-county-schools">Giles County Schools</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-university">Liberty University</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ten-commandments">ten commandments</a></span></div></div>Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:27:57 +0000Joseph L. Conn1630 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/constitutional-commandment-virginia-school-board-obeys-first-amendment-%E2%80%93-at#comments